Press Release
BROWARD COUNTY DEFENDANTS CHARGED WITH COMMITTING SEVEN ARMED ROBBERIES
May 28, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida announced that on May 27, 2008, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging defendants Curtis Solomon and Devon Chance with committing seven armed robberies of various restaurants in Broward County.
The sixteen (16) count superseding indictment charges both defendants with conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, conspiracy to use and/or carry a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, seven (7) substantive Hobbs Act robbery counts, and seven (7) substantive counts of using and/or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. If convicted of all counts, the defendants face more than one hundred (100) years’ imprisonment.
According to the charges, the defendants are alleged to be responsible for approximately fourteen (14) restaurant robberies in the Broward County area. One of the defendants was identified when, during one of the robberies, the t-shirt he had wrapped around his face fell off, exposing his face. Because the robberies occurred in several jurisdictions, it took a collaborative effort to assemble the evidence from the various law enforcement agencies. As a result of this cooperation, which included interviewing witnesses and executing a search warrants, law enforcement confirmed the identity of the defendants and recovered items taken from various robberies.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, the Margate Police Department, the Wilton Manors Police Department, the Lauderhill Police Department, the Plantation Police Department, and the Sunrise Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bruce Brown.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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